This year, The Guardian’s regular roundup of the best iPhone apps and games is going monthly, although mining the App Store for the most useful, innovative and/or fun new apps remains very much the focus.

January was far from a slow month, too, with entertainment, productivity and creative apps all making their debuts on Apple’s store. The price refers to the initial download only, so additional in-app purchases may be included. And if you’re after Android apps, check that platform’s best apps of January roundup.

Read on for the last month’s recommendations – bear in mind that apps released last week will be held over to February’s roundup – and please do give your feedback and alternative recommendations in the comments section.

APPS

If the recent three-episode run of TV show Sherlock left you frustrated at the likely-long gap to the next series, this app may provide consolation. Part game and part multimedia storytelling, it sees you exploring London helping Sherlock solve 10 cases. Genuinely fun for fans of the show.iPhone / iPad

Keyboard replacement app SwiftKey has been a huge success on Android, but Apple doesn’t let anyone replace iOS’ default keyboard. Now SwiftKey has found a way onto the App Store as a standalone note-taking app that syncs with Evernote. The smart-predictions keyboard remains the star.iPhone / iPad

The latest storybook app from children’s publisher Nosy Crow is its best yet: a wonderfully rich retelling of the famous fairytale, with nine mini-games but also a strong emphasis on narrative and reading. It’s a real showcase for the potential of children’s apps. Read this interview for more on Nosy Crow’s strategy.iPhone / iPad

Nope, not a pricing typo: synthesizer maker KORG’s new app costs a penny under £20, but music enthusiasts will find it good value. It’s a collection of mobile synths and drum machines – 15 in all – which you can mix and match to create songs, then share them via SoundCloud, Facebook and/or Twitter.iPad

Released by book publisher Penguin, this is aimed mainly at schoolchildren preparing for their first phonics screening check, with three space-themed mini-games designed to test their spelling skills. Multiple difficulty levels mean it should be suitable for a wide range of ages and abilities.iPhone / iPad

Rap Genius has become a popular site for looking up not just lyrics (initially rap, but now rock and poetry too) but the meanings and references within those songs. Its mobile app is excellent: a quick way to search the site on the go, including Shazam-like identification capabilities.iPhone

There was a lot of hype around the launch of Jelly, although the nagging suspicion remains that a visual, crowdsourced questions-and-answers app might be more exciting for Silicon Valley folk than regular smartphone users. Still, this is slick, easy to use and quite moreish once you get into it.iPhone

For now, streaming music service Beats Music is only available in the US, but it’s expected to come to the UK soonish. Launched by the popular headphones brand, it has a strong emphasis on curated playlists by experts and artists, as well as personalised mixes for your current situation.iPhone

The latest app aiming to help Brits watch TV on their mobile devices, this offers up channels from the BBC, and commercial broadcasters, with Now and Next feature to see what’s coming up, and the ability to browse around while still watching your existing channel. It works well, so far.iPhone / iPad

Released by Penguin Books, this is a treat for fans of Dahl’s children’s books: a collection of 19 audiobooks narrated by the likes of Kate Winslet, Stephen Fry and David Walliams. Each audiobook is sold as an in-app purchase: expect to pay £3.99 or £4.99 for the full-length novels.iPhone

Another whizzy gestural interface for a productivity app on iOS, this time from developer Square Mountains. It’s a calendar app making neat use of colour and swipes to help you navigate your upcoming appointments. Its simplicity deserves to find a mainstream audience beyond the early adopters raving about its design.iPhone

Niche alert: you’ll need one of TomTom’s GPS watches to use this app. But if you do have one, this app is a must-download: it helps you dig into your activity record, and speeds up the process of identifying your location when setting out on a new run.iPhone / iPad

That’s quite a claim, but Gojimo does seem to have plenty of information whether you’re studying sciences, arts or social sciences. Aimed at several levels – including GCSE and A Level here in the UK – it offers a mixture of quizzes and e-books, with each subject bought via in-app purchase.iPhone / iPad

Interviewy is unsurprisingly getting a lot of love from journalists, given its status as a neat and intuitive way to record interviews – including tagging the interesting bits for later transcription. Actually, though, its uses extend beyond hacks like me: anyone recording and transcribing will find this a boon.iPhone

Before there was Peek Calendar, there was Sunrise – available as a sleek iPhone calendar app for some time, but newly grown up for the iPad too. It works with Google Calendar and Apple’s iCloud, pulling in locations and LinkedIn data for your meetings to ensure you’re always prepared.iPad (but also iPhone)

Not a shopping app, but a restaurant recommendations app from the British supermarket chain. It promises a database of 1,300 reviews, based on the book of the same name. The initial purchase enables you to search listings to find restaurants, but an in-app purchase of £3.99 unlocks all the reviews.iPhone / iPad

I’m genuinely not sure what to make of a weight-tracking app that actively insults you if you put on pounds – fun for some, disheartening for others. If the humour’s up your street, though, this “sadistic AI construct” will track your stats and offer its own “judgemental” encouragement on your progress.iPhone

There are alternatives to iTunes for buying or renting TV shows and films, including Google’s own store. If you’re using that, there’s now an official way to watch them on your iOS device, streaming over Wi-Fi. Note, the actual payments have to be done on another (non-Apple) device.iPhone / iPad

Styling itself as a “video concierge”, this app is the work of website StumbleUpon, promising to provide a stream of web videos based on your interests, current mood and the time of day. Good if you just want to sit back and watch... something, but you’re not quite sure what.iPhone / iPad

The latest venture from entrepreneur Jason Calacanis is a news aggregator, with a team of humans (as opposed to Summly-style algorithms) turning news stories into 300-character summaries – while linking back to the original sources. A neat swiping-heavy interface makes it quick to flip through.iPhone

Here’s something potentially really useful if you’re trying to digitise a big stash of printed photos. Pic Scanner can scan in two, three or four photos at once, then helps you crop them, tweak them and add special effects (if desired), then – if you’ve paid a one-off £1.99 in-app purchase – save and share them.iPhone / iPad

There are some really interesting things bubbling up in the world of digital comics, with 13 Coins just the latest example. Up to six issues so far, 13 Coins tells the story of a “tormented ex-con on a quest for vengeance”, aided (a bit) by the fact that he’s descended from angels. Forget the digital angle: this is a story you’ll want more of.iPhone / iPad

Pitched as a “visual to-do list”, DropTask has been finding a growing number of fans for its ability to help you get organised in a different way to the usual to-do lists. Its iPad app is impressive too: it’s easy to create and manage tasks, and share them with colleagues to ensure things get done.iPad

When this popped up in my App Store RSS feed, it looked a likely prospect – and then I realised there was a link with The Guardian. That’s genuinely not a factor in recommending it, then: this is a neatly-designed London tour guide which stores its content offline, using in-app purchases for specific features like audio tours.iPhone

What was that about interesting things in the world of digital comics? This is well worth your attention: an animated, interactive graphic novel with one chapter for free, then more available as in-app purchases. If sci-fi murder mysteries are to your taste, it’ll provide plenty of enjoyment.iPhone / iPad

GAMES

This is fun: a Japanese-style action RPG sequel that swerves the freemium model in favour of one fee for 15-ish hours of exploration and battling, switching between four characters to see off dungeons-full of foes. There is genuine charm to it, including the retro soundtrack.iPad

The latest in a series of follow-ups to Candy Crush Saga from publisher King, although I wonder if people who’ve gone hundreds of levels down the former’s rabbit-hole will have the stomach for another. Anyway, swap fruit’n’veg, collect magic beans and compare your scores with Facebook friends.iPhone / iPad

If you’ve been itching to replay the enhanced edition of Baldur’s Gate II, this price is well worth paying – even if newcomers may find it a bit intimidating. I’m all for it: a classic slice of RPG gaming with plenty of questing to get your teeth into. In-app purchases are used for some extra characters.iPad

Japanese developer Kairosoft’s Ninja Village sees you building a ninja clan and sending them into battle, while also building their village into a prosperous settlement. If you’ve loved other Kairosoft games, you’ll love this. If not, it may make the perfect introduction to their charms.iPhone / iPad

Controversial, this one. If you loved the late-1990s PC version and would blow a gasket at its conversion into a Zynga-style game with in-app purchases, avoid this remake. The way it pushes players to pay is making people very angry. If, however, your gaming life started with free-to-play titles and the idea of one about running your own dungeon appeals, you may enjoy it.iPhone / iPad

“It’s not just racing... it’s racing transformed!” chirps the App Store listing for this. Well, it’s certainly racing with a hedgehog and his mates, with the twist on the genre involving vehicles turning from cars into boats and planes as you race. It’s a bit buggier than you’d like, but there is still fun to be had.iPhone / iPad

Another entirely-paid game, this time a spiffy-visuals World War II tank game that sees you trundling across France, Russia and the Pacific Islands destroying targets and upgrading your troops as you go. The graphics are excellent, but there’s plenty of gameplay to keep you occupied too.iPhone / iPad

Publisher Chillingo’s latest (well, one of them) is a spooky, unsettling game that sees you trying to escape a mysterious test facility, while working out how you came to be there in the first place. A good mix of puzzles that make you think, and a storyline aiming to frequently make you jump.iPhone / iPad

Marvel is the latest megabrand to take a look at the endless runner genre, and decide it might quite suit some of its characters. This sees you running, jumping and, yes, smashing as a range of superheroes, Hulk, Iron Man and Spider-man included. Colourful and fun, with in-app purchases used for the in-game crystals currency.iPhone / iPad

The latest freemium football game is a blend of management and action, where you put a team together, train them up and upgrade your stadium, as well as trying to win on the pitch. Social is heavily tied in too, and there’s good fun to be had – with in-app purchases used for coins, gold and even unlocking Arsenal’s stadium.iPhone / iPad

Another Chillingo game, this, albeit with the help of filmmaker Woo. Knowledge of his work, plus the title, makes it entirely unsurprising that there’s plenty of the claret stuff in this game: a gripping action title set in Hong Kong and Beijing, with a characterful brushstroke-based visual style.iPhone / iPad

The hand-drawn graphics made this stand out for me, and thankfully the game is very fun too. It’s a puzzle-action title that involves battling a host of monsters with elemental magic (or bombs), with five levels available to play for free, then a single £1.49 in-app purchase unlocking the rest. Great fun.iPhone / iPad

If you, like me, are a sucker for a decent dungeon-crawler, Archangel is well worth a look. Released by Unity Games, it’s an atmospheric clash of good and evil that sees you trying to “inflict a justice so brutal and uncompromising that none will ever again defy the will of Heaven”. Well, they have been very naughty demons...iPhone / iPad

The price of Sega’s new “rhythm-based adventure” may put some people off trying it, which would be a shame – it’s an interesting mix of music and action, with more than 50 missions and 20 songs to jig your way through. Its use of in-app purchases to unlock new stories and difficulty levels may give scope for the initial price to come down sometime.iPhone / iPad

Finally, one more freemium game this week, from rising publisher Game Insight. It’s a cat-based strategy game of base construction and battles, with lots of depth (although possibly a fair amount of grinding too, if you don’t want to splash out on in-app purchases). There’s character here, though.iPad

By necessity, this is a personal selection, so tell me why I’m an idiot (but ideally accompanied by constructive suggestions of apps and games that came out for the first time in January that I’ve missed) in the comments section.

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